Bruce Wilson handed 'wad of notes' to Julia Gillard, says builder

A builder has told the royal commission into trade unions that former prime minister Julia Gillard paid for renovations at her house by personal cheque, despite allegedly receiving cash for the work from her then boyfriend Bruce Wilson.

Athol James, who completed a series of building jobs at Ms Gillard's Abbotsford house, including the installation of bi-fold doors, said she had told him Mr Wilson was paying for the work.

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"I never was paid in cash and I don't know what happened with the cash Bruce handed her," Mr James said in a sworn statement.

Wayne Hem, a former records keeper for Australian Workers Union, told the royal commission Mr Wilson gave him $5000 in cash and told him to deposit it into Ms Gillard's bank account. He said Mr Wilson gave him a Commonwealth bank account number on a piece of paper.

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"I said I need the account name because they wouldn't accept it down at the bank. So it was Julia Gillard and I said OK," Mr Hem said.

Mr Hem said at the time he "did not know if the account was her private account or business account or a Slater&Gordon account".

Mr Hem said he presumed the money was for payment of work done at the Abbotsford house because renovations at Mr Wilson's Kerr Street property in Fitzroy had been completed and he presumed the work had been paid for.

Mr Hem also recalled visiting Ms Gillard's Abbotsford property with Bill Telikostoglou where he saw some painters that he had previously seen working at Mr Wilson's property at Kerr Street. In a sworn statement to the commission, Mr Hem said "I had not seen the painters before".

He said Mr Telikostoglou, known as "Bill the Greek" handed an envelope to one of the painters which he assumed contained money.

"I saw Con the builder in the kitchen and it looked like he had finished doing some tiling work," Mr Hem said it a sworn statement.

Mr Hem said he did not know the builder Con's surname.

Another builder, Konstantinos (Con) Spyridis told the royal commission he and his subcontractors had completed tiling work on Ms Gillard's verandah and her front picket fence, but he had never been inside the house.

He said he invoiced Ms Gillard $3500 for the work and she had paid it in two instalments. He said he went to her home in 1995 and handed her a second invoice.

"Sometime later, I recall receiving one bank cheque in the mail and later a second bank cheque in the mail for the outstanding amount for my work at the Abbotsford property," he said.

Mr Spyridis said he also received a cheque from the Australian Workers Union for $15,000 for work he completed at the union's Carlton office.

Mr Spyridis said he did not do any work at Mr Wilson's Kerr Street property.

Ms Gillard has said she was confident she had paid for the renovations on her house.